Yisrael Meir Lau, who has never missed the opening of Holocaust Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem or the March of the Living from Auschwitz to Birkenau the following day, is once again participating in both, and is not bowing out due to advanced age. He will celebrate his 81st birthday on June 1."} 7d:{"position":27,"content":"All three of his sons are carrying on the multigenerational family tradition of entering the rabbinate. One of them, David, who is currently chief rabbi of Israel, is walking in his father’s footsteps in more ways than one. He will be reciting a chapter from Psalms at the Yad Vashem ceremony. Lau Sr., who is already an Israel Prize laureate, will next month receive the prestigious Guardian of Zion Award, while prior to that his nephew, Rabbi Benny Lau, will be conferred with an honorary doctorate by Bar-Ilan University."} 7e:{"position":28,"content":"■ HISTORY IS never more important than when told by its participants or by eyewitnesses. In the Jewish world this month, many families are looking at old photographs and at postcards and letters written by relatives who were caught up in one way or another in the Second World War. What makes such documents particularly precious is not their literary style, which often leaves a lot to be desired. But it’s the honest simplicity – replete with grammatical and occasional spelling mistakes that are part and parcel of such documents – that often makes them more authentic and more valuable than academic works by historians."} 7f:{"position":29,"content":""} 80:{"position":30,"content":"Margaret Fargotstein and Amy Baxter of Memphis, Tennessee, cherish a letter written by their maternal grandfather, US Army Capt. (Dr.) Ben Schaffer to his wife, Fagie Schaffer, after an assignment in Austria at the end of the war. Capt. Schaffer, a dentist, was among the first medical staff to enter Mauthausen concentration camp."} 81:{"position":31,"content":"The

Grapevine: Moufleta politics

All the big names attended the Mimouna festivities in Ashkelon.

See more on